Les Mis tour St. Louis 7/23

I saw then in Detroit and loved them

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Sarah, those are great pictures. Looks like you got all the leads autographs too. You look happy. Glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks for sharing!

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Just got back from the LAST show (we went to Denny's for a while), and it was likely the single best night of theatre I've ever had in my life. I got the button, too, and also stage-doored. I got all the main ten (minus the kids) except Mellisa Lyons and Norman Large (thanks for posting that - it was driving me crazy-crazy who the other one was that I missed).

Every big number got huge aplause (and 'woo's), especially Randal Keith. The three biggest aplauses of the night were Vajean's Soliloquy, Who Am I?, and Bring Him Home, which received a STANDING OVATION in a 4,500 seat theatre!!! One other thing that I really liked as opposed to the only other time I've seen Les Miz live was the pit was full. When I saw the tour in Chicago last year, there was a lot of synths. That REALLY took away from this potentially breath-taking and definetly emotional score. But tonight it was all there in all it's glory.

Randal Keith was AMAZ-ER-ING, Robert Hunt (Javert) was great (which kind of surprised me, because when I saw him in Chicago, I really didn't like him all that much, but he was great tonight), there was no weak link in anything. Though I'm usually not a fan of the kind of musical Les Miserables is (big, overblown popera), they showed tonight why that form is so popular and can be so moving.

And after the curtain calls (which were longer than usual with all of the aplause), the cast brought out the backstage people. Great to recognize them, especially in a show that needs them much more than most shows need their crew.

Undeniably the best night of theatre I've ever had.

LES MISERABLES 3NT (NOVEMBER 28, 1988 - JULY 23, 2006)

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There were no speeches from the stage, and I didn't see him as I hoped. However, by the time our group got there the house was already open, so I didn't have the best chance to see him if he was. That and I had balcony seats. Still very fine seats, but I'd imagine Cameron MacIntosh would have better ones.


Anyone else see him?

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It was my first time seeing Les Mis too, and I'm so glad it was on a night like last night.

I have never seen anything like that standing ovation in the middle of the show. I've never seen an audience moved like that.

I wish I'd brought my camera as no one was stopping anyone from taking pictures during curtain call.

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I was in the 10th row of the orchestra and there were no standing ovations for individual numbers but there was one at curtain call. Bring Him Home and On My Own got noticeably longer applause. From what I saw looking around at intermission I was in the minority because the majority of the people there could not be younger than 60.

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I WAAAAAAAAANT one of those pins!

Sounds like a great performance. And Randal Keith is such a nice guy!

I was too absorbed in what was going on onstage to look around behind me. The people around me were boring and just clapped. But the two women next to me insisted on chatting throughout.

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Ah silly me thought she was talking about the matinee. My mistake.

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I was at the final (evening) performance last night. I was so happy that the crowd gave Randal Keith a standing ovation. He really deserves it. He's performed over 1800 shows, and as the announcer said before the show, the national tour has had 7061 performances. I also got pictures with cast members but won 't be developing them right away. I saw Melissa Lyons was crying at the final bow. Were any other cast members? Also, at the stage door both Gavroches and Rachel Shier (Little Cosette/Eponine) were hugging and crying. So it was a sad night for cast and fans, though sadly there were more older people present than fans. My boyfriend and I were probably the only people there wearing Les Mis shirts.

Also, on a side note, the pit wasn't at its best last night. The show was still heavily synthesized, sadly.

Oh, and am I the only person who was unimpressed by Daniel Bogart's Marius? He lacked passion, especially during Red and Black and during A Heart Full of Love. He was just very bland and walking through the show more or less.

Updated On: 7/24/06 at 07:45 PM

theminutepast, the pit may not have been at it's best last night, but it certainly wasn't half as bad as when I saw it in Chicago - and not near as synthesized.

Someone I knew said he saw Ali Ewoldt crying, but I didn't notice - he was A LOT closer than I was.

And as for Daniel Bogart, I wouldn't say I was impressed, but I wouldn't go so far as to say he "walked through," either. I liked him better than the other Marius I saw in Chicago, Adam Jacobs, though. One thing a friend of mine (who played Marius quite well at our school) pointed out while we were at Denny's after the show was that he didn't think Bogart was very good at being knocked out while Valjean was carring him through the sewers. That's something I wouldn't have noticed, but that's what he said.

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The Chicago orchestra had the exact amount of synthesized instrumenation as St. Louis. However, Chicago also had the addition of Live strings as opposed to St. Louis,which Les Miz would do for longer sit downs, so if anything you saw the more synthesized orchestra at the final show.